Mama Joshua and the murdered Nigerian Billionaire.

He is gone!His name? Ignatius Odunukwe, the Nigerian billionaire and owner of Firman Generator company who was kidnapped on December 1, last year. His decomposed body was recovered in a canal at Ogunbo Forest, off Ajah Road, Lagos on January 21, 2020.

What has Mama Joshua got to do with it?Nothing directly. Mama Joshua is not one of the suspects arrested and waiting arraignment in court. But Ahmed Iliyasu, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police in charge of Zone 2 Command, Onikan who was one of those that visited the site where Mr Adunukwe was brutally murdered said that the syndicate that allegedly did it trailed him via his Facebook page.

This is where Mama Joshua comes into the picture. I met Mama Joshua in Port Harcourt back in 2014 through a mutual friend. We also became friends on Facebook. Married with three children, she had a beauty boutique and was doing a master’s degree at the University of Port Harcourt. A very hard working and focused woman.

But she was a prowler on Facebook. Walahi, I have never met anyone like her before then and even after. Everything, I mean everything, about her was on Facebook. From when she wakes up, steps out of the house, takes the children to school, arrives at her boutique, gets to University of Port Harcourt for her lectures, leaves the lecture hall, drives back to her boutique, closes for the day, arrives home for dinner you will find on her Facebook page. I am not talking about written posts only. Every post was accompanied by live pictures of her location. Lots and lots of pictures. Pictures that would fill the American Library of Congress. She may be the most self photographed Nigerian that has ever lived.

MeanwhileKidnappers were crawling all over the city of Port Harcourt. Brutal killings were common place. Besides, at least, one or two persons were being kidnapped weekly. As you drive around town, you watch every other car that comes by. Your eyes are constantly on your rear view mirror to see whether a particular car is always behind you. And as you get to your residence, sometimes you purposely drive by to see whether anyone or car is hanging around.

Port Harcourt was painted in red. Not party red but blood red. It wasn’t just the kidnappers. The cultists were there. The militants were there. The ritualists were there. It was the city of blood hounds.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this bone chilling danger, mama Joshua was constantly advertising her entire daily itinery on Facebook, offering herself a sitting target for evil hands. Out of concern for her and the irritation of seeing her pictures all over, I gave her a call and talked a little common sense into her before deleting her from my list of Facebook contacts. She was lucky to not have been taken prisoner by kidnappers as at the time I left Port Harcourt.
Why do you want to live on social media when you are not a celebrity who do self marketing. Don’t forget celebrities buy themselves some security. You don’t.

Think twice and morePart of what led to Odunukwe death was the information on his Facebook page. Apart from the possibility of people with criminal intent coming after you over your postings, some employers may now use your social media information to profile you. That could be to your detriment depending on what is in there. For instance, childish posts may indicate a mind that is not serious.

Some people forget that what they post on their WhatsApp statuses can be seen by everyone on their phone contact. They also forget that not everyone on their contact list is a friend. Even if so, do your friends want to know everything going on in your life. Should you put online some very deep and personal things you are going through? Don’t you know you might just be inviting fake sympathizers who may want to take advantage of your vulnerability?

Final words.Beware of going into private places, including hotel rooms, with people you meet online to discuss business. If you must meet someone in a hotel, it should be in an open area. And you should go with a chaperone or friend. Beware of mouth watering offers that turn heads. They might just turn your life upside down or send you to an early grave.

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